Abdul Jabbar al-Oqeidi, the leader of the Aleppo military council of the self-proclaimed Free Syrian Army, has been killed in an operation conducted by the Syrian Army.

Al-Oqeidi was killed on Tuesday, Aug 7. On the same day, the Syrian Army attacked insurgents in the al-Asileh neighborhood of Aleppo, killing and injuring 150 insurgents. In addition, insurgents’ vehicles equipped with machine guns were damaged in the operation.

In some neighborhoods of the city, foreign-backed gunmen have taken civilians hostage and there are reports that they plan to use them as human shields, while the army continues to clear Aleppo of insurgents.

The Syrian Army has focused its operations on the city’s outskirts and has cut the insurgents' supply lines. The rest of the city is under the control of Syrian government forces.

Syrian troops also attacked insurgents in the western city of Homs on Tuesday, killing or capturing many of the foreign-backed armed men.

Syria has been experiencing unrest since March 2011. Damascus says outlaws, saboteurs, and armed terrorists are the driving factor behind the unrest and deadly violence while the opposition accuses the security forces of being behind the killings.